


Unforgivable Secrets

by NimDamy



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Action, Bloodbending (Avatar), Earthbending & Earthbenders, F/M, Firebending & Firebenders, Gen, How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, I'm Bad At Tagging, Waterbending & Waterbenders
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-01-15 20:43:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18506731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NimDamy/pseuds/NimDamy
Summary: She is an assassin trained by a fire nation general. He is a prince without a kingdom.She has to hide her true power to keep her life. He has to hide his to keep his freedom.She is the villain. He is the hero.She is water, cruel and unforgiving. He is fire, raging and dangerous.She didn't agree to that arrangement. He didn't particularly care.She has her secrets. He has his. And, sometimes, those secrets are unforgivable.***Kaida Shao had met prince Zuko once upon a time, right before he was banished by his father. Then, she had left to train with one of the Fire Nation's deadliest generals.For years she had been part of the best team of assassins in the Four Nations, the only place where it was safe for her to use her unique set of gifts.Zuko made a promise once, and he intends to keep it. Should he ever meet the blue-eyed dancer again, he will not let her get away from him that easily again.After he becomes Firelord, he is dead set on keeping that promise, even if it might put more than just his life in jeopardy.And Fate has a strange way of moving around in circles, making their paths cross once again.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!  
> I should probably focus on Wildlings right now but, then again, I was never one to only do what I should.  
> In other words, this is and old-ish work.  
> Enjoy!

The assassin pulled her hood low on her face. Making her way through the dimly lit streets of Gaoling, she couldn’t help but wonder when, exactly, had this mission gone to hell.

“Spirits, have mercy on me” she whispered softly.

* * *

It was supposed to be an easy mission. Infiltrate the city before the anniversary of the end of the war, find the Beifong family head and take him down. Easy and fast, also bringing a lot of money to the rapidly dwindling resources of the team.

She hadn’t expected the extra security, or for the freaking Avatar to be present at the festivities, together with the new Firelord, and the other four teens that, supposedly, had put an end to the Hundred Years War.

As soon as her team had gotten into position, everything had gone wrong.

Somehow, the attack was over even before it could begin. The guards, or maybe the Avatar himself, had sensed there was something wrong. For a second, time and space froze. The young man with burnt gold eyes looked straight at her. Or, at least, straight towards her, as she was way too far from him for the man to actually spot her. It was not for nothing that she gained the title of best archer in the entire army, she could hit the bull’s eye from over a hundred meters away. Still, those eyes bore straight into her soul and she was taken aback by the sheer strength held by those eyes. Then, an even stronger wind had pushed her off the rooftop she had chosen for the mission. It was her fortune, though, that made her fall on her back and slide all the way to the outermost ring of the Gaoling central plaza. From the distinctive hawk call, Naoki had been lucky too. From the shouting and clashing of weapons coming from the plaza, the twins hadn’t been.

Her side stung, hard. Mindlessly, she pressed her hand on her left side, while whistling her own, distinctive, response. Her mind was already going through a hundred strategies rejecting them almost as fast as they came up. She was waiting for Naoki to join her, though, before she put any in practice.

A strand of her hair fell into her eyes and she lifted her left hand to pull it away when she noticed the blood. Looking at her side, she saw a long but shallow cut along her abdomen. As Naoki finally arrived to where she was, she had already bound her wound. It had to be healed, fast, or it would leave a scar. And Kaida Shao would not let herself gain a scar from a loose roof tile.

The sound of clashing weapons faded. Instead, she could hear an angry voice shouting louder and louder.

The twins, bless their soul, were silent. The last words were loud enough that she heard them without having to strain herself.

“Take them straight to the prison, and lock them up. Separate cells. Triple the guards. Tomorrow morning we leave to Ba Sing Se, they might regain their voices by the time we arrive!”

Good. Naoki and her had more than enough time to get them out.

* * *

She had been scouting the streets around the prison for hours, the full moon lighting her path. It was time. She signalled her partner. He pulled his hood and took his position.

There were twelve guards. Six for each. She stepped into the middle of the street and approached the main entrance silently.  
At the last moment, she turned towards the left side of the building, where an emergency ladder hung from the roof.

She had spotted the ladder earlier, and had scouted for the emergency exit connected to it. Well, emergency entrance for them that night.

With Naoki right behind her, she jumped through the roof opening. Twisting in mid-air, she fell on the ground, rolling and raising to her feet. The lower-most cells were the ones lined in metal, designed for the most dangerous prisoners.

Two of those cells held her team members.  
Not for long.

“Took you long enough, kiddo!” Hiraku called out.

His brother, Hikaru, stood silently, and got closer to the bars.

Kaida stepped forward and removed her hood. Hikaru nodded softly.

“You do know how to make an entrance,” he noted.

“Wait and see how I make an exit,” she grinned.

She uncorked the small container strapped to her thigh. The flammable liquid inside sloshed at the sudden movement.

“Naoki, give me a small flame!” she demanded.

The firebender complied and a tiny fire erupted over his stretched palm. Kaida breathed deeply. She had been itching to bend ever since the full moon had risen above Gaoling.

Stretching two fingers, she directed the liquid out from the bottle and through Naoki’s fire.  
Instantly, it lit up. She split it in several strands, which then spread at the top and bottom of four cell bars of each cell. The flaming liquid formed tight rings around the thick bars.

Kaida squeezed her fists. The rings tightened. The metal squealed at the effort.  
Sweat was dripping down her brow. The cut on her side throbbed. Her focus was solely on the metal bars, thinning with each second.  
When she felt the metal was thin enough, she pulled, using all the power entrusted to her by the full moon. The metal bars fell to the ground, the sound of metal on metal reverberating through the prison.

Soon after, hurried steps were heard from the hallway. Kaida gathered the remaining liquid in a tight fireball.

“Hurry up and be careful. The metal ends are still hot.” She glanced over her shoulder, to make sure everyone was following her orders.

No sooner had the twins got out of their cells, that two guards entered the hallway.

“Hold it right there!” they shouted, as they raised their rock gloves, ready to attack. “You, firebender girl, put out the fire and step against the wall! Everybody else, face the wall and hold your hands on it!”

Kaida smirked. At last, some sort of challenge. With one fluid movement, the flames were out and all remaining liquid was back in the small bottle.

Her next movement, though, brought the two guards on their knees, no longer in control of their bodies.

The rock gloves clattered uselessly on the ground.

“Sorry, boys,” she whispered, mockingly, as she readjusted her hood on her head with one hand. “Wrong kind of bender.”


	2. Chapter 2

The fire from the braziers along the wall blazed white hot.

“There you go, throwing the temper tantrum of the millennium!” she shouted in his general direction.

For a second, Kaida was afraid that he would burn the whole palace down. Then, all the fires returned to normal and the hallway was only dimly lit again. Without a word he walked until he was right in front of her. She took him in, as he approached. Tall, with longish dark hair and startling, burnt gold eyes. The left side of his face was marred by a huge scar.

“Temper tantrum?” he asked, his voice low and threatening. “Ever since you arrived, everybody, myself included, have done nothing but try our best to make you feel welcome...”

“Welcome?! I have been brought here against my will!”

“Well, if you think I have some sadistic pleasure in holding you here and listening to you complain about every single little thing, you are dead wrong! I have no idea what uncle thought when he arranged this... thing, but he definitely didn’t think it thorough!”

“Well, it’s not like I can leave whenever I wish, so don’t you dare blame me for not being oh, so amazed and grateful!”

Their argument was getting louder again. Not a servant was around. Probably too afraid of what could occur to stand and watch.

Kaida raised her hands, prepared to bend the hell out of the young man. Then the burning began. Not from his bending, but from those blasted wards her father had placed on her, before she had left for the Capital.

She dropped her hands at her sides. Her fists clenched.

A door opened and closed somewhere behind her. The sweet scent of jasmine tea enveloped the two. An older man, with long, grey hair, a round belly and a smile on his face approached.

“Nephew, that new brew is coming along divinely! Kaida, dear, you should come and taste it as soon as possible!”

If he noticed the charred remains of several tapestries or the smell of smoke that seemed to never vanish completely since she arrived, he didn’t mention it. Nor did he mention the bright red bands around her forearms. Sometimes, Kaida wondered whether the old man was fully in this world.

“I will surely try the new blend, lord Iroh, but not right now. For now, I shall retreat to my chambers, if you will excuse me,” she said and bowed low to the man. She then turned around and made her way down the hall, without uttering a word at the young man.

As she turned around a corner, she could hear the two, softly talking. Years of training had her able to discern every word they said before they entered Iroh’s room.

“Uncle, she is nothing but a menace! I realize she is the daughter of one of your good friends from the Order, but, for Agni’s sake, she is...”

“Do not be so fast to pass judgement, nephew. There is more to young Kaida than meets the eye. I knew her when she was just a sweet little girl, and I have considered, more than once, that I make a contract for her and Lu Ten.”

“But there was such an age gap between them!”

“Eh, your aunt was almost ten years younger than me when we got married, it is not that unusual. Alas, all that is past now,” Iroh’s voice took a longing tone.

Kaida steadied herself against the wall. She remembered, barely, the young man that had joined Iroh whenever he visited her parents’ home. He had been kind and funny and he had showed her how to defend herself. But he had been so much older than herself... She made herself focus on the conversation that was being held just around the corner.

“... besides, Kaida is nothing like...” his voice cracked.

For a few moments, there were no words spoken, just the shuffling of cloth, indicating that Iroh was holding his nephew close.

“I have to admit, Kaida is as different from Lady Mai as the fire-lily is from the jasmine bloom. But remember, Zuko, that you cannot hold the fire-lily as a standard for how special the jasmine is. Now come, have a cup of tea with an old man!” With those words, the two men entered Iroh’s chamber, leaving Kaida alone in the hall.

Slowly, she picked herself up and made her way towards her own quarters. There, standing in front of the huge wardrobe, filled to the brim with fancy clothes and jewellery, she made a rash decision.

She dug around until she found something fit for her plans. Stripping down the silk dress she had been wearing that morning, she went over her plan again. It should work, as there had been no restrictions whatsoever regarding where she could go within the palace. She put on the leggings and tunic she had chosen and her soft leather boots. Pulling her hair in a top knot, she made her way towards the training court, where the guards spent their time whenever they weren’t on duty.

She was greeted with low bows by the guards present in the courtyard that doubled as training grounds. They were baffled when she asked for a bow and quiver of arrows, as well as a target.

“My lady, shouldn’t we call for the Firelord? You are his...” one of the men began.

“What I do in my free time should be no concern of the Firelord. After all, he has a nation to run, I can’t expect him to be at my beck and call every moment of the day!” she snapped.” Now, could you please provide me with weapons and a target?”

The man took a few steps back, not daring to raise his eyes. One of the women, though, stepped forward and unstrung the quiver from her back. She handed the items to Kaida and turned to point towards various places scattered around the courtyard.

“There are targets placed all over the grounds, as some of us train with them every day. Go ahead and use whichever you want, nobody walks through that half of the courtyard anyway.”

“Thank you!” For once, Kaida was honest.

She picked up the bow, tested the string and chose an arrow. She was used to heavier weapons, and it took exactly one stray arrow to realize it. The second arrow hit the ring right outside of the centre of a target about fifteen meters away.

The third arrow hit bull’s eye on the same target.

The next one hit a target somewhere around thirty meters away. Dead centre.

* * *

 

As Zuko exited the palace, he heard cheering and applause coming from the training grounds. He made his way towards the sound, fully expecting to witness one of the many mock duels that took place daily. But all the guards present were gathered around the archery range, where a lone figure, wearing the most basic training gear was shooting arrow after arrow. The archer had skill, a great deal of it. Each target had at least one or two arrows stuck in the centre.

The archer was a female, medium height, with her brown hair tied in a high top knot. Then, the sun caught her hair, showing the bright red strands scattered throughout the brown. In that moment, Zuko recognised Kaida. The next moment, her last arrow hit the bull’s eye on the farthest target. The firelord couldn’t help but be amazed at the sheer skill the young woman possessed. Then he realised the implications of Kaida with a weapon in her hands.

Unwillingly, he recalled the incident three years ago, when he had been in Gaoling and his men had captured two assassins, most likely sent there to kill him. The two had been locked up in the most secure cells of the prison but had escaped later that night. The guards that were guarding the prison reported that the two had been helped by a girl and a boy, the girl the only one who showed signs of bending abilities.

She had supposedly used fire-bending to cut the bars of the cells and, upon examination, the bars were, indeed molten at the ends. But then, she had used some weird movements that had rendered the guard unable to control their own bodies and knocked them out with nothing more than a wave of her hands. Most of the guards, at least. Together, there had been twelve. Each of the girl’s companions had disbanded two. She had managed six.

Raucous applause brought the firelord back to reality. Followed by more cheers and several lewd comments addressed to the girl. Her only reply was her smirk and the unspoken challenge in her eyes.

“Fight me, little girl!” Shen, one of the most massive men Zuko had ever seen, bellowed.

Kaida’s only response was to return the bow and the, now empty, quiver to one of the female guards.

“Choose your weapon,” she told him, half turning her face.

“Proud little one, aren’t you?” Shen mused. “Daggers.”

Shocked, Zuko watched as Kaida nodded her head in acknowledgement. The same woman who had provided her with a bow and arrows now handed Kaida a pair of medium length daggers. He could see Kaida nodding in thanks and whispering something that made the woman grin.

Then she took her position, slipping easily into a stable defence stance.

* * *

 

“Any rules?” Kaida asked when Shen turned to face her.

“Two: no bending and no fatal hits.” The voice belonged to the same woman that had shared her weapons with Kaida. Lin.

Kaida nodded, while taking in her adversary. He was easily two times her size, towering over her, with broad shoulders and rock-hard muscles all over his body. But, unlike most brutes she had fought in her life, the man seemed rather smart. Too bad he had chosen her favourite weapon for close combat.

Truth be told, the fight was over before it truly began. Kaida had begun in a defensive stance mostly to fool her adversary, because, as soon as Lin signaled the start, she had sprung up, using her right hand to hold his blades away from her, while pointing her left straight at his heart. Shen had had no real chance at winning. Not against her. The girl doubted there was any soldier in the entire Firenation army who would be able to stand their ground against her, excluding the Captain. And not even her mentor could measure to her when she had her full bending.

She had felt his presence from the moment he had come out to the training grounds. The smouldering feeling she got from whenever a powerful firebender was around was stronger when she was around him than for anyone else. She made a show of shooting the targets and disarming Shen, but neither was a real challenge. She could only dream about going blade to blade with the powerful man leading an entire nation. Now that would be a sight to behold. But he seemed to have a tightly-leashed temper that never landed him in an impromptu arena, sword against sword, fighting until your own body betrayed you and collapsed from exhaustion. Kaida had seen too many such fights and had participated in even more. She had never claimed to keep her temper or impulses under control. Not since she had been a child.

She had been expecting his intervention for the last few minutes. So he didn’t surprise her when he made his way in between her and Shen and grabbed her left wrist, pointing the dagger she was still holding away from the man. Shen didn’t wait for any other sign, he bowed low and made his way towards his comrades. They will laugh at him, surely, for getting his ass handed to him by a little girl. Later, though. They will do it later. Right now, they all stood at attention, as their Firelord was among them.

“What do you think you are doing?” he snarled at her, voice low enough that only she could hear him.

“Training.” She looked him in the eye, not flinching at the silent flames dancing there.

“And who gave you permission to do so?”

“I didn’t realise that I needed a special permission to do what I want in my free time. Now, if you would be so kind as to grant me permission,” she said, mockingly, as she pulled her hand free, “I will not bother you any longer and return to my quarters. It appears that that is the only place I am allowed to stay in.” Kaida started making her way back towards the palace.

“You are not excused,” he called after her, making her stop dead in her tracks. “Stay right there!”

“Go ahead and make me. But know this, Firelord Zuko: you may think you own me and that it gives you some authority over me, but you are not my master and you will never be. With your bending at its best and my bending as it is now, you may be able to overpower me. But, whatever you do, your reign over me will end one day. And, if I have learned anything from Fire, it’s that it never forgives and never forgets,” she called back at him, without a pause in her steps.

“I said stop! Whether you like it or not, you are Firenation, so you will obey your Firelord!” his words held an unspoken ultimatum. She either stopped of her own free will, proving that she had just lied. Or she would be stopped by the guards and brought before the Firelord as a traitor.

She turned around and stared straight at him. “Fight me.”

“What?” She had caught him by surprise.

“Fight me. All you have got, blades, fire, everything. If you win, I will bow. I will accept the arrangement without another complaint. If I win, you dissolve the contract. You set me free and we never see each other again.”

He seemed to consider her offer for several seconds. She had taken a risky leap. For this, he could have her imprisoned for life. No question, she would take more guards down than he was probably ready to spare. But they were too many, and she had half her bending at most. And only two daggers.

Zuko drew a deep breath in his chest, the fire in his eyes returning to the usual smouldering embers.

“No.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, leave any questions, comments or other reactions in the comment box below.  
> Cheers, y'all!


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